Vet advising me to put raw fed cat with UTI on urinary dry food
Hi all,
My cat recently suffered a UTI which has been a pain to treat. We believe it was stress-induced and has since relapsed following multiple antibiotic courses. She has had bloodwork and imaging which have all come back normal, so we're dealing with a stubborn infection.
She is otherwise healthy and has been raw fed her entire life. She used to eat exclusively homemade raw (chicken), occasionally getting fish and lamb. More recently, I've started her on complete commercial raw rabbit mince in the mornings, and she gets her regular homemade raw in the evenings with raw fish 1-2x per week. She is supplemented daily with psyllium husk, taurine, fish oil, probiotics and other beneficial additions. She drinks plenty of water, her stool has always been regular and solid.
After a 10 day course of an oral antibiotic and, following failure of that to eradicate the infection, an injection antibiotic also failed to completely eradicate the infection (residual bacteria remained in urine), the vet is now recommending I stop the raw and feed a urinary care kibble. I looked at the ingredients in this and was horrified. I asked the vet what specifically about this food would be helping my cat with this UTI and she just said 'its good for the bladder'. I cannot imaging giving my cat kibble, when she is currently chewing through meat and offal, enjoying her meals and keeping her stimulated.
Since the onset of this UTI, I have been religiously giving my cat 100% pure D-mannose (1/4 teaspoon 4x a day) and two cystease tablets daily. These have obviously failed to help eradicate the infection alongside the antibiotics, but I am continuing to give them in the hope they may be helping even in the slightest. We are due to repeat the urine culture and start a different antibiotic next week.
I currently am stuck between listening to the vet regarding the urinary diet as a last resort, or sticking to what my gut is telling me and giving the food that she is used to eating and is high quality, despite feeling guilty now that I may be harming my cat. How can dry food possibly fix a urinary issue? I read that the main ingredient that governs it a 'urinary diet is 'Dl Methionine', which is sold separately as a paste and can be given without having to totally change her diet (its called methigel - anyone have any experience with this?). Apart from that, none of the other ingredients in this urinary food seem to have any affiliation with bladder health. She has no urinary stones, no sediment, nothing showed up on imaging aside from the infection.
Please does anyone have anything reassuring to tell me about my approach, or whether I'm doing something totally wrong here? Should I really be changing my cats diet to a urinary care diet?